Minivans and sport utility vehicles are becoming increasingly popular and typically provide a flexible seating system capable of accommodating various seating and storage configurations. Such seating systems provide users with the ability to vary a location of a seat within a vehicle and/or to otherwise adjust the seat between a recline position, a fold-flat position, a dumped position, and/or a kneeled position.
Such seat assemblies generally include an inboard recliner mechanism and an outboard recliner mechanism that cooperate to allow selective rotation of a seatback relative to a seat bottom. The outboard mechanism is usually tied to a manual lever or a power-actuated lever such that when a force is applied to the lever, the outboard mechanism is released. The rotational force applied to the outboard mechanism rotates a cross rod that extends generally between the outboard mechanism and the inboard mechanism to cause the inboard mechanism to similarly release. Once the outboard and inboard recliner mechanisms are released, the seatback is permitted to rotate relative to the seat bottom.
Releasing the inboard and outboard recliner mechanisms may be used to position the seatback into a fold-flat position relative to the seat bottom such that the seatback is generally parallel to the seat bottom. Manipulation of the seatback into the fold-flat position may be timed with forward articulation of the seat to permit quick and easy access to an area generally behind the seat. Such quick entry systems are commonly used in minivan and sport utility vehicles to allow access to seating behind the seat and/or to a cargo area of the vehicle. In either situation, when the seat is returned to a use position from the forward position, the seat is articulated rearward until the seat bottom is returned to a use position. Once the seat bottom is returned to the use position, the seatback is rotated relative to the seat bottom until the inboard and outboard recliner mechanisms lock the seatback relative to the seat bottom.
Conventional recliner mechanisms are typically biased into a latched position such that when the seatback is rotated from the fold-flat position, the recliner mechanism engages the seatback and prevents further rearward rotation of the seatback relative to the seat bottom. In essence, the recliner mechanism locks the seatback in a forward-most position, preventing further angular adjustment of the seatback relative to the seat bottom until the recliner mechanism is released once again.
The forward-most position of the seatback does not typically provide a desirable seating position as the forward-most position usually results in the seatback being generally perpendicular to the seat bottom. Therefore, in locking the seatback in the forward-most position, conventional recliner mechanisms suffer from the disadvantage of requiring an additional operation (i.e., releasing the recliner mechanism) before the seatback can be returned to a reclined and comfortable seating position.